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Yuma business owner pleads guilty to failing to pay employment taxes

KAWC | By KAWC Staff

Published April 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM MST

If President-elect Donald Trump's proposals are in effect in 2026, the richest 1% would receive an average tax cut of about $36,300 and the next richest 4% would receive an average tax cut of about $7,200, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

A Yuma businessman has pleaded guilty to failing to pay employment taxes after withholding nearly $400,000 from employees without remitting the funds to the Internal Revenue Service.

Philip Kevin Clark, 61, the owner of Diamond Brooks Drinking Water, a local water company, entered his guilty plea on Tuesday in federal court. Sentencing is scheduled for July 28 before U.S. District Judge Steven Logan.

According to court documents, Clark admitted that between 2017 and 2021, he withheld approximately $395,250 in payroll taxes from his employees’ wages but failed to forward those funds to the IRS, as required by law.

Clark now faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the charge of Failure to Pay Employment Taxes.

The investigation was led by the IRS Criminal Investigation division’s Phoenix Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Rapp based in Phoenix is prosecuting the case.